Church's Pistol Firm Exploits a Niche Washington Post, March 10, 1999
By John Mintz With parts of its sprawling business empire in decline, the UnificationChurch headed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon is finding profits in one of theleast-known of its commercial ventures: making guns.Moon's four-year-old gun company, Kahr Arms, has prospered amid glowingreviews for the workmanship of its small but potent pistols. Last month,Kahr Arms expanded, purchasing the company that manufactures Tommy guns,fabled in Roaring '20s mob shootouts from speeding black sedans. The ties between Kahr Arms and the Unification Church headed by Moon havereceived almost no notice, both within the close-knit gun industry and amongchurch members. The business arm of the church, whose members believe thatMoon is the Messiah and was placed on earth to restore the Garden of Eden,declined to clarify its involvement in the gun business. One ex-member said that for years church leaders have tried to obscure themovement's involvement with Kahr Arms. "They were afraid if anti-cult groupsfound out, they'd have a field day," the former member said. But an examination of corporate records and interviews with experts on thesecretive Moon empire demonstrate the links between the church's businessnetwork and Kahr Arms. Kahr, whose factory is in Worcester, Mass., iscontrolled by Kook Jin "Justin" Moon, 28, the elder Moon's fourth son andslated to be second-in-command of the multibillion-dollar Moon empire whenthe 79-year-old father dies. Justin Moon and his siblings are revered bychurch members as the Messiah's "True Children." Some former members and gun industry critics perceive a contradictionbetween the church's teachings and its corporate involvement in marketingweapons promoted for their concealability and lethality. "I see an irony, if not hypocrisy, that someone who professes peace and sayshe's completing Jesus's work also manufactures for profit an implement withno purpose other than killing people," said Tom Diaz, author of "Making aKilling," a new book critical of the firearms industry. "What's the message,turn the other cheek, or lock and load?" Two years ago a demoralized British member wrote Moon saying he was quittingpartly because of the church's involvement with Kahr guns. "I might ask ifyou, as a founder of a religious organization which has 'world peace' as oneof its goals, consider it appropriate to manufacture weapons for sale on themass market," the member wrote. Kahr has been in the forefront of seizing on changes in state and federallaw and marketing a controversial type of small, six-inch-long handgun whosesales are surging. Guns that size had been around for decades, but theycould shoot only small bullets. Then in recent years, 31 states passed laws, promoted by the National RifleAssociation, allowing people to carry concealed weapons. Moreover, in 1994the government banned manufacture of guns able to hold more than 10 bullets.Now unable to sell popular models shooting up to 21 bullets, the industrysearched for new products to sell. Gun firms - with Kahr at the head of the pack - responded to these changesby finding a new market niche to exploit - small but well-made pistols thatfire eight or fewer relatively large 9mm and .40-caliber bullets. Emergency room physicians blame the spread in the last decade of 9mm and.40-caliber guns for dramatic increases in more devastating and at timesfatal gunshot wounds. The NRA says the nation is safer because of the 2percent or so of adults who always carry handguns, and it cites studiessupporting that claim. Kahr markets its guns for their concealability, among other things. Its K9model is "the perfect pocket 9mm," says one ad. "No safeties to fumble withwhen the pressure is on." Combat Handguns magazine praised Kahr pistols as "made like a fine Swisswatch." Soldier of Fortune said they "pass with flying colors" the key testof any handgun their size: "close range, high stress, rapid-fire desperationshooting when all else has failed." Kahr guns are used by some police officers as backup weapons holstered ontheir ankles and shoulders. They have not become popular with criminals, gunexperts say, because of their relatively high cost - about $750 apiece - andbecause the firm is so new. Last month Kahr Arms bought into a legendarily lethal product line bypurchasing Auto-Ordnance Corp., the maker of Thompson submachine guns. Thecompany was founded in 1916 to develop a portable machine gun that itsinventors hoped would win World War I. The "Trench Broom" arrived too latefor the war but was snapped up by gangsters like John Dillinger and MachineGun Kelly. Now Kahr manufactures Auto-Ordnance's line of semiautomatic weapons and isawaiting a federal license that will allow it to make the fully automaticmachine guns once beloved by gangsters. One reason for the Unification Church's expansion into the gun business maybe that Moon has often placed money in ventures in which his children have apersonal interest. He bought a Manhattan recording studio for a son who wasa heavy-metal rock musician, and horse farms for two other children who rodeon Korea's Olympic equestrian teams. In the case of Kahr, the elder Moon wasdrawn to the gun industry by his sons, who are avid firearms hobbyists, saidone former member. Justin Moon graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with aneconomics degree in 1992. Then, under his father's orders, he instituted aboardroom shake-up of the church's many firms, placing Moon relatives in thekey positions, the former member said. Like his father, "the son was afraidwhen his dad died, the members would betray the family," the ex-member said."He wanted everything in the family's name." Justin Moon then persuaded his father to invest $5 million in Kahr, arguingthat it would be a profitable venture. the ex-member said. The son, who hasno engineering training, has received five U.S. patents based on his claimthat he invented key technical innovations embedded in Kahr's guns. Theparent company of Kahr Arms, Saeilo Inc., is an offshoot of a cluster of 15or so other Moon-affiliated concerns, all called some variation of Saeiloand all in the machine tool or car repair business. For years employees atvarious of the Saeilo firms have been exhorted to meet sales targets so asnot to displease the elder Moon, called "True Father" or "TF." David Bromley, a Virginia Commonwealth University sociologist who studiesthe church, said members believe the companies "create connection to theMessiah. ... They create a community and integrate work and family."Moreover, he said, while followers privately view their firms and the churchas essentially one entity, in public they often "make fine distinctionsbetween them." Asked about the tie between the gun firm and the church enterprises, One UpEnterprises Inc., the holding company over many of the church's businesses,said in a statement that it "is not involved with the operations of SaeiloInc." Asked to elaborate, One Up said it "does not release financialinformation to the public." Saeilo Inc. said its gun venture is profitable. An examination of the Saeilo firms' data filed with federal agencies, thetelephone company and business reporting firms leaves no doubt that SaeiloInc. is connected to the rest of the Moon empire. The church's One Up has long acknowledged that Saeilo Machinery (USA) Inc.,a machine tool firm, is an outright subsidiary of One Up. In statements toDun & Bradstreet and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, SaeiloInc. and Saeilo Machinery describe themselves as "affiliates." The twofirms' headquarters share a telephone number at the same address inBlauvelt, N.Y. Even as Kahr thrives, some of Moon's other business holdings are in seriousdecline. His South Korean companies, which include concerns that make cartransmissions and sell ginseng, are $2 billion in debt, and many are inbankruptcy. A car plant in China, Panda Motors, has gone under. In addition,donations from members in Korea and Japan have dropped precipitously, inpart because of economic distress there. Larry Zilliox, a McLean private investigator who has researched the Moonbusiness network for a decade, said Moon views enterprises such as Kahr ascritical to his future. "Moon no longer looks at the church as the core organization," said Zilliox,who first established the Kahr-Moon link. "The movement's business part isthe enduring part." |